‘Do the needful’ as common PDP slang

Unlike other major defections that took place in recent times, the one by Speaker Tambuwal was fundamental in certain respects, apart from his high political office and profile. Others, who left, and joined the PDP, included Ondo State Governor Segun Mimiko and the governor that just left government house in Awka, Peter Obi.In any case, […]

Unlike other major defections that took place in recent times, the one by Speaker Tambuwal was fundamental in certain respects, apart from his high political office and profile. Others, who left, and joined the PDP, included Ondo State Governor Segun Mimiko and the governor that just left government house in Awka, Peter Obi.
In any case, when crisis rocked the PDP and some of its governors chose to defect to the APC, the legislators in most of these states except Adamawa, followed suit and the next thing we heard was loud sound of disapproval from the PDP and the subsequent court action. When a few weeks after, some members of the APC defected to the PDP we did not hear the usual noise from NTA and other sources close to Wadata House because that was normal.
The meaning of all this is that when defection is from another party to the PDP, it is normal and applauded but the moment it is from PDP to any other party, it amounts to illegality and what we often hear is threat of vacation or removal from office. This has been the character of the PDP since the beginning in the early 2000.
When the governors in Kebbi, Bauchi and Zamfara as well as the ones in Abia and Imo, dumped the parties that brought them to power, they were celebrated by the PDP and its government but when Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of Kano, Aliyu Wammako of Sokoto, Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara, Rotimi Ameachi of Rivers and Murtala Nyako of Adamawa, left, it was court action aside from the puerile propaganda from official quarters. No wonder Governor Kwankwaso defined President Goodluck Jonathan as the commander-in-chief of Nigerian Television Authority.
When Speaker Tambuwal finally defected on Tuesday October 28, 2014, the first statement that came from the PDP through its unguarded spokeman, Olise Metuh, was that the speaker should do the needful. A language that is usual and common with those high up there in the government that the party runs. You remember Stella Oduah and the BMW scandals? When defending herself before a parliamentary investigation, she argued that she never gave approval for the cars, but all that she wrote on the submissions from the agency was that they should do the needful.
Anyway, the Oduah affair is even a minor scandal when compared against the view of President Jonathan on corruption. He argued that when people see minor stealing, they call it corruption. Adding more salt to injury, on May 1, while talking to Nigerian workers at their annual celebration, the president argued that Nigerians are not poor and anybody who argues that way does not know what poverty means. He gave a short story of his visit to Kenya where about seven or more private jets flew in for one meeting or the other and the resultant discussion within the Kenyan elite circles as to the excitement over the number of private jets. This means that because there are several private jets in the country, the rest of the people cannot be poor. What an understanding of poverty by a Doctor of Philosophy!
The request by the PDP that Speaker Tambuwal should do the needful is a signal of the destabilisation of the House that Nigerians should expect. This is evident by the antecedent of the new national chairman of the party, who we understand the president refers to as the ‘game changer.’ As soon as Mr. Mu’azu became the chairman of the PDP he began a plot of impeaching governors. He succeeded in Adamawa and failed in Nasarawa but it appears he has not given up. The purpose of all these is to weaken the opposition APC and ensure that the PDP goes to election next year with as many governors as possible knowing fully that the ability of the federal authorities to rig election in any state is dependent on how much the governors cooperate.
Taking over Adamawa through the backdoor only confirms the fear that the party saw it would lose in the event that the elections were conducted early in October. Deploying the judicial option was the most appropriate thing to do as to be doubly sure. And yet again those rude boys in Lafia are at it. Hope they face the wrath of the electorate.
Telling Tambuwal to do the needful simply means that they would ask their members in the House to remove him or cause mayhem. Of course, we all know that he was elected resoundingly because he was rejected by the PDP and I wonder why those who ought to see seem not to see the quantum hate by the party to one of its own. I wonder if anybody who suffers that would recover and bounce back; this in my view explains the love-lost between the party and its principal member. The defection therefore did not come to me as any surprise.
To elect a speaker, you require only a simple majority. In this case181 members could elect a speaker but only a minimum of 240 could unseat him. Where will the PDP get this? I will insist that the House retains its integrity as a model of democracy in Nigeria’s fledgling system and in the event the PDP leadership decides to steer a crisis that is unnecessary towards the end of tenure, then, the consequences shall be its liability.
If I were asked what the needful means as issued by the PDP, I would say they are asking Tambuwal to keep the flag flying. The PDP is the only party in the world to the best of my little knowledge that approbates and reprobates at the same time. What confusion! And at the slightest opportunity, they tell us they are the largest in Africa. How? Maybe large, and irresponsible.
I think Nigerians should hold the PDP leaders in Wadata House, most of who were unelected, responsible in the event that chaos breaks out in the parliament. Did I hear you say, they live by brewing crisis? Then, let’s go by that common adage that says ‘he who lives by destruction shall have destruction awaiting him at the doorsteps of his success.’
If Speaker Tambuwal chose to defect, so be it. Let there be room for more defections in the polity. Everyone should face his politics in the manner that he or she desires and on the dictates of the law and convention. Why will you celebrate when people decamp to your party and take ill when they decamp from you? This is unnatural and clear indication to the reason why the PDP is failing in providing efficient leadership in the country.
The PDP and its government should do the needful by allowing the House decide their fate and not this evidently laden desire to cause commotion. Just as it was on June 6, 2011, so shall it be in December when the House reconvenes if the PDP chooses to thread the same path.
God bless Nigeria and Nigerians.